Dwight Howard (No. 12) and Kobe Bryant (No. 24) still have some sorting out to do to make the Los Angeles Lakers a smooth-running operation. / Geoff Burke, USA TODAY Sports

by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

LOS ANGELES -If ever there was a time for Dwight Howard to be happy, this was it.

Yet while the Los Angeles Lakers center with the uncertain free agency future was certainly pleased with the 105-96 win Sunday against the NBA-leading Oklahoma City Thunder, he did nothing to dissuade the local fears that he may flee in an interview with USA TODAY Sports afterward. Howard, who spent the early part of the season discussing his future as if he would be with the Lakers for the long-term, is now refusing to look too far ahead.

"My whole mindset is on us getting better, me getting better, me getting healthy," Howard said. "So I don't have time to focus on what's going on at the end of the season or even putting my mind there. My mind is solely on helping this team win and feeling better. Just all the other stuff, I don't want to get sidetracked with it.

"I hear what people are saying. I don't need to say anything about it, but I'm the one that gets the bad end of the stick. Something happens on TV, something happens on ESPN, and they're saying it's me. I just try to play through it and stay happy and lead this team in any way I can."

Before the Lakers' current two-game winning streak, they had lost 10 of 12 games and there were growing indications that he was having second thoughts about Laker Land. But Howard, when asked about the Feb. 21 trade deadline on Saturday and whether he thought the Lakers may move him if they were concerned about losing him this summer, proclaimed to USA TODAY Sports, "Nobody's going anywhere."

Despite saying the Lakers won't trade him or anyone else to save their awful season, Howard has the team guessing again. His answers regarding free agency have taken on a different tone of late, with Howard opting not to discuss the topic after he had spoken about his return as if it were a foregone conclusion for so long.

Asked if some of the chatter may be stemming from his agent, Dan Fegan, who was so heavily involved in Howard's exodus from Orlando last season, he said, "I never said anything about getting traded or asking to be traded to my agent. We didn't talk about it. The only thing I tell him, and I tell everybody else, is to be patient. It's a process.

"I'm going to go through this process no matter what. I'm not going to give up on my team, or give up on myself, and I think that we can accomplish great things here‚?¶I just feel like with what we have (on the Lakers), we can win. I'll keep pushing myself and pushing the rest of my teammates so we can win."

Howard, whose once-glowing reputation took such a hit late in the Orlando Magic chapter of his story, is a once-in-a-generation big man who seems next in line to become the latest Lakers legend.

But between his physical struggles (April back surgery that still affects him) and his constantly conflicted nature, Howard has been hard-pressed to return to his Superman ways. ABC/ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy, who has far a more negative view of Howard than his brother who was fired by the Magic because of the big man, Stan, is among the many who would like to see some stability with the center's situation.

"For him to say that we're going to talk about free agency later (means), 'I'm not sure I want to be here.' That's very clear-cut that he has self-doubt," said Jeff Van Gundy, the former Houston Rockets and New York Knicks coach. "I think that causes a division (among the team) because then (people say), 'Does he not like playing with Kobe (Bryant)? Does he not like being coached by Mike (D'Antoni)? Does he want to play with another big guy like (Pau) Gasol?'

"It seems like for two-and-a-half, three years he's been in a constant state of waffling, where he's just not committed to where he's at. ... Are you going to persevere through the tough times or sort of move yourself into a ‚?? what he would say ‚?? is an easier spot? ... I hope he finds his way again. I really do."

Howard's situation has become, as Jeff Van Gundy noted, a classic case of fight-or-flight. If he were to send the message to Lakers' brass that he didn't want to re-sign, they would be forced to consider trading Howard. And his reputation ‚?? if he were moved ‚?? would take yet another blow.

But for all the upside that comes with being deemed the new centerpiece of this franchise that boasts 16 championships, it's clear Howard isn't entirely comfortable with the idea of staying with the Lakers longterm. For starters, Bryant's alpha-dog personality and powerful presence means Howard might not always feel like the center of attention.

Bryant, who has one year left on his contract, rules with an iron fist that might not work for Howard. He showed that again last week in a Monday team meeting that, according to ESPN.com, left Howard despondent. Bryant discussed that dynamic at length with USA TODAY Sports on Friday, saying he has sent the message to Howard that "it's not necessarily about what you (want), how you are as a person, or what's comfortable for you. It's really about what's going to help elevate us."

Howard, however, claims that culture can work for him.

"That's the way you're supposed to communicate," he said. "I've been doing that for years, but when I do it it's taken out of context. You say something, it gets out that it's a fight or something.

"But you're going to have situations in the locker room where you yell at somebody, you get on them for not bringing their best every night or in practice or whatever it may be. Sometimes they take that the wrong way. I have no problem with it. I've done it in the past."

D'Antoni, who hardly has a reputation as the aggressive type himself, said he's fine with anything that helps with the turnaround.

"If it produces results like (the win Friday against the Utah Jazz), then yes (it's a positive)," D'Antoni said. "If it splinters ... no. So every group is different, and everybody accepts it differently. It also has to be the right time to do it. You do it early, it could fracture things. You do it when you're at the rock bottom and it's a come-to-Jesus moment.

"We had to have it. It worked so far, and it's got to stick. It can't just work for 48 hours and then we go back to the same way. So, we'll see."